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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030007">fracture</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_fives/pseuds/captain_fives'>captain_fives</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>victories and deaths [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Tragedy, Bad Ending, Blood and Injury, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Mind Control, Order 66, Painful Death, Sad, Strangulation, electric shock, no clonecest</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:49:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030007</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_fives/pseuds/captain_fives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Order goes out.</p><p>The Bad Batch falls apart... from the inside.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>victories and deaths [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905277</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>162</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>fracture</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>SO YEAH, THIS IS UH... NOTHING BUT PAIN. When one finds a post full of angst potential while scrolling through the Bad Batch tag on tumblr, one must write some angst...</p><p>https://shadow-hyder.tumblr.com/post/616963036103753728/so-some-of-yall-about-to-be-real-mad-at-me-for</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>[Order 66 now in effect] </em>
</p><p>
  <em>[execute all traitors]</em>
</p><p><em>[alert - communication]</em> 'Hunter, Tech and I are heading back to the hangar, what's our next move?'</p><p>Hunter? <em>[nomenclature obsolete - caution] 'CT-1409, status report.'</em></p><p>'... Hunter, it's <em>Echo</em>, what -'</p><p>
  <em>[CT-1409 compromised - traitor to the Empire]</em>
</p><p>
  <em>[lethal force authorised]</em>
</p><p>
  <em>[execute traitors and return to nearest muster point]</em>
</p><p>
  <em>[good soldiers follow orders]</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[good soldiers follow orders]</em> </strong>
</p><p>---</p><p>It feels like a nightmare. </p><p>Echo sprints through the abandoned outpost, heading for the hangar where they left the <em>Havoc Marauder</em>, and wishes that was the case. Tech is running beside him, breathing harsh as he fights off his impending panic attack, and Echo reaches out to grab his brother's hand. No matter how smart and capable he is, Tech is their <em>youngest</em> and he <em>has</em> to look after him, it's his job as his <em>ori'vod</em>. He doesn't know where Crosshair is, last he knew he was checking the other side of -</p><p>The comm beeps.<em> 'Tech, Echo, where in the nine hells are you, something's wrong with -'</em></p><p>The sniper's voice cuts off with an agonising sound of pain, but the comm stays on, and Echo can just pick up the others' voices in the background. <em>'Make sure?'</em> Wrecker grunts; whatever control they're under has turned him half-feral, and Echo can't parse that thought against that of the brother who loved tookas and birds and pulled Crosshair into hugs that the sniper begrudgingly accepted before sweeping the rest of them into his arms for a group cuddle.</p><p>Hunter's voice is toneless and cold when he replies, sending a terrified shiver down Echo's spine; damn it, he's an ARC trooper, he shouldn't be afraid of anyone, especially a <em>vod</em>. But he is. <em>'Leave it. He'll bleed out soon enough, may as well make it slow and painful. There's still two to track down, and they mustn't escape. After them, now.' </em></p><p>Wrecker's answering laugh is manic and savage and reverberates down the corridors (close, too <em>close)</em> and Echo picks up the pace as the hangar comes into sight, pushing Tech ahead of him. If they can make it to the <em>Marauder</em>, maybe they can go get Crosshair, take off before their brothers catch up -</p><p>Hunter's aim may not be on the same level as their sniper, but it doesn't have to be.</p><p>The electrical charge hits Echo in the back and he seizes, joints locking up and neural links struggling to cope. Every nerve left in his body turns into an inferno of pain, circuitry shorting out as he collapses on the duracrete, Tech's yell of his name barely making it through the static. He tries to reach out, tell him to <em>run, get in the ship, go find Cross and get out</em>, but nothing responds, limbs spasming through the unexpected overload. His brother is tugging at his arms, trying to pull him up and get him to the shuttle. They're so close, so near to escape, but Tech is built small and Echo is practically deadweight.</p><p>He's dropped to the ground in a panic as their tank charges across the hangar; but stun blasts don't work on Wrecker, and like any trooper in their right mind the slicer would never want to kill a <em>vod</em>. Tech's hesitation costs him, and Echo can only watch in cold, unrelenting horror as Wrecker's hand clamps like a vice around their littlest brother's throat. His legs flail uselessly, arms scrabbling for purchase on slippery plastoid and glove as he struggles to breathe; but the feral trooper only grins, all teeth.</p><p>Hunter slips silently into view, shooting an emotionless glance at Echo shuddering in pain on the ground, and makes his way to the hatch of the <em>Marauder</em>. 'Stop toying with the prey and finish the job. We have orders to carry out,' he says, matter-of-fact, and vanishes into the interior of the shuttle. Wrecker's grin widens, leaning forward to laugh right into Tech's terrified face. 'Bye now.'</p><p>The crunching <em>snap</em> that follows is a sound Echo will never be able to forget.</p><p>Tech's body lands on the ground in an awkward heap, and Wrecker follows Hunter into the <em>Marauder</em> as the engines ignite, launching into the sky and leaving the slumped forms of their former brothers on the duracrete floor of the hangar.</p><p>Echo's vision blurs from a mess of tears and pain, but he makes no effort to try and move. The floor is cold beneath his cheek as he stares at the blood slowly trailing from Tech's slack mouth to the floor, eyes fixed on the way his brother's neck sits at an unnatural angle, the fear still ghosting through blank eyes. The hand closest to Echo is stretched across the duracrete towards him, as if in desperation, and he can't even reach out to take it.</p><p><em>Oh, Tech.</em> Ni ceta, kih'vod.</p><p>
  <em>I'm sorry.<br/></em>
</p><p>He's failed. Tech died terrified and alone at the hands of a <em>vod</em>, because Echo couldn't keep him safe.</p><p>The spiraling thoughts screech to a halt as a particularly painful spasm wracks his chest, and the warning bells going off in his brain force themselves to the forefront. Something has jarred loose, something shorted out, something overloaded. Something is failing that shouldn't be, and the signs are beginning to show. Echo realises, with a strange clarity, that he's dying; has been since the electric charge hit him in the back and robbed him of all movement.</p><p>A side door swishes open, and uncoordinated footsteps make themselves known. The tangy smell of blood hits his nose, and someone stumbles to their knees next to him, lifting his head off the floor, careful. White hair. Tattoo. Crosshair. 'Echo? Stars, you're still alive, where's -'</p><p>There's an awful silence, long enough for a trickle of red to pool on the floor next to one skinny knee. Echo absently wonders how badly Crosshair is injured if he's already bleeding all over the floor. The sniper's hands are gentle where they cradle his skull, but tremble in place as his breath hitches, as he stares at the broken form of their youngest just steps away. '... Tech.'</p><p>Echo's chest hurts. Crosshair, fingers firmly on the pulse point on his neck, notices something is wrong - and the look on his face as he gently turns him onto his back, rests his head on his knees, fills Echo's stomach with sharp guilt. <em>I'm sorry, Cross. I can't stop it.</em></p><p>They'd had a particularly good run of missions a few weeks ago, and had dug into their stash of moonshine for a night of celebration. Echo had gone easy, still figuring out his new limits - long gone were the days when the ARCs would drink Jesse under the table - so he'd remembered when the conversation had turned to the melancholy, and Crosshair had confessed that despite the things he said on a daily basis, he was afraid of being alone. He might be, soon. Hunter and Wrecker are who-knows-where by now, minds stolen and replaced with something unnatural; Tech is nothing but a corpse on an abandoned hangar floor in the Outer Rim; Echo's vision is going grey at the edges, limbs heavier than they should be -</p><p>The sniper leans out of his vision, coughs harshly. Echo can smell blood again, and Crosshair's hands are shaking from more than just trauma. He looks resigned when he's back in Echo's field of view, a smear of red at the corner of bloodless lips. Something's broken in him beyond what he can repair on his own, and there's no ship to take him to safety anymore.</p><p>They're going to die here. Echo doesn't understand why he feels so calm about that.</p><p>
  <em>Droidbait, Cutup, Hevy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tech.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Fives.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Are you waiting?</em>
</p><p>He swears he can feel the ghost of a hand on his. Everything aches, and yet there's no pain, not really. Crosshair is murmuring something in Mando'a, almost too faint for him to catch. <em>See you soon, brother. Don't leave me behind, wait for me, I won't be long.</em></p><p><em>It's okay, I won't; I'll be there to catch you - </em>Echo tries to get the words out, tries to reassure his <em>vod</em> like he should - he's the <em>oldest</em>, it's his job to <em>protect</em> them, he <em>failed</em> - but they won't come. He takes one breath, and another.</p><p>And then...</p><p>... an-</p>
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